Hello all! I know this is a bit late seeing as it's three days before Christmas but I finally had time to finish this post so I wanted to share it anyway. After all, there's always time for giving thanks. So, I wanted to share with you my photos from my Thanksgiving this year in the UK. For those of you who may not have given it much thought, England doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving. Instead, in the month of September or October, England celebrates Harvest Festival. This is the time that schools and churches give thanks for a successful harvest and everything God has given to them. Typically, people bring food donations to a special Harvest Festival Service where donations are put on display in front of the church before they are later handed out to people in need. So Harvest doesn't have a national holiday in England like it does in the United States or Canada but it still serves as the time of year where Brits give thanks and count their blessings.

So this year I had the choice of letting American thanksgiving pass me by or sharing it with my new British community. Well I figured what the heck and decided not only was I going to have Thanksgiving with my host family this year, but I was going to have thanksgiving with my host church. We decided to do a bring and share style meal so I started putting announcements in the church bulletin. Then, over the next few Sundays leading up to Thanksgiving, over thirty people signed up to come. I thought that was amazing. I couldn't believe so many people were interested in sharing my American holiday with me.

So a few days before Thanksgiving I got busy planning and preparing how I was going to host this Thanksgiving and explain to my new British friends why in the heck Americans sit down on this day every year and eat our body weight in food. This really gave me a time to reflect and get refreshed on the Thanksgiving traditions celebrated with my family and around the United States. Figuring out how I was going to explain things like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade were fun for me because I really hadn't thought about the why or when of some tradition's like this before.

After a few trips to the grocery store, some YouTube video searches and some prayer that it would all go smoothly, November 27th came and I spent most of the day setting out long tables, laying out table clothes, preparing table settings and for the first time, cooking green bean casserole. With major help from my host family, who cooked the turkey :), and everyone that made and brought food via the public transportation system, the evening went tremendously well! It was a really fun night and a new way for me to look at Thanksgiving. Even though I was missing my family and traditions at home, I was able to share a part of my heritage with new friends and family around the world and for that, I was truly thankful.

In the church kitchen preparing green bean casserole and center pieces before everyone arrived.

Voila! Apple candle centerpieces! Thank you Pinterest.

There's always a turkey decoration at my family Thanksgiving. So this year to incorporate that, as everyone came in the door they were asked to write down something they were thankful for on a slip of paper and put it in a turkey jar. 

Food table prepped and ready

Long table style just like at home because Thanksgiving should be shared with family.

The table settings. The far right is my attempt at a cornucopia....

I wanted a way to remember this year not just through pictures, so I bought a cotton table cloth and fabric crayons for people to make turkey hands, a classic American Thanksgiving tradition. Then later I ironed on the crayon so I could keep it forever :)

The 2013 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in the background so people could watch a Thanksgiving parade as if it were Thanksgiving morning.

The party begins.

Everyone lent a hand to make the hand turkeys.

Busy making last minute preparations in the kitchen.

My host family being SUPER helpful with the turkey, gravy, and pumpkin pie.

Time for food!

The completed plate! Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn muffin, rolls, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry jelly, etc. It all tasted wonderful and all the traditional foods were present!

My 2014 Thanksgiving family at St. James.

Watching the history of Thanksgiving YouTube video.

Going through my slide show. Explaining the Macy's Parade, traditional foods my family eat on Thanksgiving Day, and pictures of my family and friends.

The food after first rounds.

The desserts. We also celebrated two birthdays that night! We had traditional pumpkin pie that was phenomenal and a traditional British dessert as well, asst. fruit crumble with creme.

And in the end, everyone pitched in to clean up. Not a single person left without helping out in some way! I felt truly blessed to share this Thanksgiving with my St. James family.